Speedway - Scorpions tame Bears
After losing out to Birmingham last week the Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions were back to winning ways at the Eddie Wright Raceway last night; defeating the Redcar Bears 49-44 in another thrilling meeting.
With rider replacement in operation for the injured Viktor Bergstrm the Scorpions had the match won with a race to go but just missed out on the bonus point when they could only tie the last race.
Boston-born racers, Carl Wilkinson (14 points) and Simon Lambert (8 points plus 2 bonus points), both recorded their highest scores in a Scorpions race jacket whilst David Howe also added ten points.
With three 5-1 heat wins in the first six races the Scorpions had pulled out a ten point lead by heat 6 but a tactical ride win for the impressive Ben Wilson narrowed the gap by three and from then on it was nip and tuck as the two sides battled it out for the destiny of the league points. E
arlier Nick Simmons had produced passes on Redcar riders in heats 2 and 4 but his luck ran out when he came to grief in heat 8 as he looked set to pass Arlo Bugeja. It meant a drawn heat and three more followed in quick succession.
Ty Proctor, after two three points from two rides, came to the party in heat 9 with a first class ride around Carl Wilkinson before Wilson and Carl Stonehewer passed Jerran Hart to fill the minor places behind Magnus Karlsson in Heat 10.
David Howe won heat 11 before heat 12 looked to be another shared affair until Jerran Hart's bike came to a grinding halt on the last bend whilst he was in second place.
It narrowed the gap to five points and after an awesome heat 13, in which all four riders fought it out for positioning right up to the finishing line, the Bears had reduced the deficit further with another 4-2. Not only was the destiny of the bonus point now in doubt the Bears were now eyeing up overall victory.
However, Jerran Hart, the club's unpredictable reserve, produced one of his finer rides to claim his second heat win of the night whilst Carl Wilkinson won a terrific duel with Arlo Bugeja for third place to all but guarantee a Scorpions win. For victory they just needed to provide a finisher so the Scorpions could concentrate on trying to claim a 4-2 in the final race to take the bonus point.
Wilkinson produced a breath-taking ride around the outside to round both Ben Wilson and Ty Proctor in the third turn. However, try as he might David Howe couldn't quite find a way past the Bears duo as barely a couple of metres covered the three rides as they crossed the line.
With the Bears making a full contribution to a fantastic speedway meeting it was only fair that they took a league point for their troubles.
The problem is the Scorpions made a similar contribution to the meeting at Redcar on Thursday night but just missed out on a point.
However, with the two sides likely to face each other in the Knockout Cup Quarter-final the 94-89 aggregate score (91-89 if you take away the tactical ride which isn't allowed in the Knockout Cup) certainly bodes well for a classic cup tie and who would bet against the result going down to the thirtieth heat of the tie?
After five meetings in eight days the Scorpions have a well deserved few days break and prior to the next speedway action at the Eddie Wright Raceway (Premier League meeting against Workington on Friday 3rd July – start time 7.30pm) they only have one meeting to race. That is a Premier League meeting at local rivals, Sheffield, next Thursday (start time 7.45pm) although Magnus Karlsson and David Howe will be flying the flag for the side at the Premier League Pairs event at Somerset next Friday night (start time 7.30pm).
Post meetings quotes:
Jerran Hart:I should have had more points tonight I think. It should have had about 9 but I snapped my primary chain and had a big tumble on the last bend.
That's typical really, I don't really snap primary chains or rear chains at all, as far as I can remember I haven't snapped one at all so it's typical that I do one when I'm in second place and on some good points but that's speedway for you.
I think I've had a good night, I've done my job and I think all the boys have done well. I don't think you can say it's my fault or the mechanical fault that we didn't get the full three points but there you go. I'm going to try some different things as some things aren't working how they should be so we'll get back into the workshop and have it all ready for Thursday.
I think my season has gone really well so far, I think I've put a couple of points on my average and I think I've improved over the last few meetings we've had now. I've got my head round a few things.
I've had to pick myself up, I had a bit of a weird patch a couple of meetings back when I wasn't turning up for meetings the way I should be but that was in my head really, not doing what I was supposed to be doing, more aggression really but I've got all that back now and I'm full of confidence after the last two meetings so we'll see how it goes.
Nick Simmons:Things are good, I'm trying to get myself going a little bit. I've only been here once in the winter about eighteen months ago then again a couple of weeks ago with the Isle of Wight and last week so I'm just trying to find my feet a bit and trying to do well.
I like it, everybody is being so nice to me and the team is good. I kind of know a few of them from when I first started such as David and I rode with Jerran last year at Newport until Tim Stone died.
I'm just trying to do well and get myself going. I perhaps should have taken a tooth off before my third heat but I decided against it but that's the way it goes. As I say I'm still trying to learn and work out how the track changes, it's something I've got to get used to.
I don't mind Sheffield, it's a place I think is difficult to go to though but we've just got to go there and be positive. I've got a few meetings before that, I'm at Berwick tomorrow, Glasgow on Sunday and the Isle of Wight on Tuesday.
The National League is obviously good for confidence so if I win some races on Tuesday I'll be ready for Sheffield.
Full scorers:
Scunthorpe Scorpions 49 – Magnus Karlsson 7+1 (4 rides), Simon Lambert 8+2 (5), Carl Wilkinson 14 (6), David Howe 10 (5), Jerran Hart 7+1 (6), Nick Simmons 3+1 (4)
Redcar Bears 44 – Gary Havelock 4 (4 rides), Robbie Kessler 7+1 (4), Ben Wilson 16 (5, including a six point tactical ride), Carl Stonehewer 4+1 (4), Ty Proctor 10+1 (5), Benji Compton 2 (3), Arlo Bugeja 1+1 (5)
1 Kessler, Karlsson, Havelock, Hart, 58.96 (2-4)
2 Hart, Simmons, Compton, Bugeja (fell, remounted, retired), 60.54 (5-1) (7-5)
3 Wilson, Wilkinson, Stonehewer, Lambert, 59.96 (2-4) (9-9)
4 Howe, Proctor, Simmons, Bugeja, 59.96 (4-2) (13-11)
5 Wilkinson, Lambert, Kessler, Havelock, 58.53 (5-1) (18-12)
6 Lambert, Karlsson, Proctor, Compton (engine failure), 59.98 (5-1) (23-13)
7 Wilson (tactical ride), Howe, Hart, Stonehewer (retired), 59.09 (3-6) (26-19)
8 Wilkinson, Kessler, Bugeja, Simmons (fell), 59.23 (3-3) (29-22)
9 Proctor, Wilkinson, Lambert, Bugeja (fell), 58.48 (3-3) (32-25)
10 Karlsson, Wilson, Stonehewer, Hart, 59.58 (3-3) (35-28)
11 Howe, Havelock, Kessler, Simmons, 59.56 (3-3) (38-31)
12 Wilson, Lambert, Compton, Hart (engine failure), 59.06 (2-4) (40-35)
13 Proctor, Howe, Havelock, Karlsson, 59.45 (2-4) (42-39)
14 Hart, Stonehewer, Wilkinson, Bugeja, 59.34 (4-2) (46-41)
15 Wilkinson, Wilson, Proctor, Howe, 59.12 (3-3) (49-44)
Match points: Scunthorpe 2, Redcar 1
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Weather for Market Rasen
Saturday 11 February 2012
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